our jennifer davis reports on what's becoming a very heated debate in washington, d.c. >> reporter: congress returns to washington in the middle of campaign season and is battling it out over the bush-era tax cuts. he wants to extend tax cuts for the middle class but not the wealthy. >> if i said the sky was blue, they would say no. >> reporter: but now top house return john boehner said he would compromise, reporting tax cut foss the middle class even if tax cuts for the wealthy were to expire. >> you should not raise taxes on anyone in a recession. he was never gonna block the middle class tax cut. >> reporter: boehner is still pushing for this to be extended for high-income families because he said they can are job creator. >> we won't have real economic growth if we keep raising taxes on small businesses. >> reporter: boehner would become speaker of the house if the republicans win enough seats in the midterm elections and he's been trading barbs with the white house as the preelections heat up. >> an average of more than $100,000 a year for people that make more than a million a year, t